A Refuge of Nightmares
by 1monster2
Summary: A extra little two-part one-shot tag to my previous "Newsies" story, "The Newsie Girl"...Juliet has nightmares about Crutchie's time in the Refuge...what about her own? And what about Race and Romeo? Rated T to be cautious..."The Newsie Girl" must be read first, in order for most events in this story to make sense! #longliveNewsiesOBC


**A/N: Hello, all! I swear, I am actually working on a chapter for "Merlin and Lady Alliana" (I'm on the author's note…) but I've been rereading "The Newsie Girl" a bunch of times and thinking that I needed to write another Newsies fic. Like, I couldn't** _ **not**_ **write a Newsies fanfic…especially since the fandom is so supportive. This is just going to be a one-shot, because I don't yet have an idea for another multichapter fic (and anyways, I** _ **really**_ **need to get some major work done on MALA before I can write another one), and I realized that there was something in TNG that I could write a tag for. This is a…how would I describe it…a two-parter one-shot, I guess. I don't remember which chapter this is mentioned in (if you remember or find it, TNG readers, please let me know in the comments…), but I mentioned that Juliet had nightmares about Crutchie in the Refuge, and it was only helped by being up on the roof with Crutchie. Then I thought today (as I woke up), that if she had nightmares of his time in the Refuge-wouldn't she have them of her own? So, this is going to be a little two-parter…the first part is an extension of that scene when Juliet's up on the roof, and the second will be after TNG ends (before the "few months later" bit). This also contains a good deal of Jack/Juliet bonding, which I didn't have as much as I could in the original story…and Crutchie snuggles (just picture Andrew Keenan-Bolger snuggling with someone…), as well as general Newsie hurt/comfort/angst. I hope you enjoy it!**

 **So nice to write this again….DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL!**

*C*R*U*T*C*H*I*E*

" _I've learned from experience…whenever I or anybody else has nightmares 'bout Crutchie bein' stuck in da Refuge, lettin' 'em sleep up here next ta him kinda helps somehow." (Jack, TNG Chpr 12)_

"Crutchie!" Juliet cried, sitting straight up in her bed. She was breathing a lot faster than usual, and her eyes darted around the room, looking for someone or something in the dark. She sat that way for a while, before being able to slowly take control over herself, and relax a bit more. When she was finally able to breathe normally-and her hands weren't violently shaking, Juliet sighed. "Anotha one of dose dang nightmares. How long am I gonna have dese? Crutchie's _fine_!" she murmured to herself. At the mention of her friend, however, her heartbeat started racing again, and she was off of her bed and into the hallway before anyone noticed. She closed the door quietly behind her, making sure Smalls didn't wake up and sound the general alarm, before silently making her way through the Lodging House. After a while, she made it to the spot where the ladder to the roof was, and started to climb up it. She froze, however, when she heard Jack and Crutchie quietly conversing with each other.

"Anotha nightmare, Jack?"

"Ya know I'm always gonna have nightmares, Crutch-both of you… _and_ me."

"Well, ya don' have'ta worry, Jack-we's all here an' safe cause of ya, an' we's all gonna stay that way. None'a us is eva gonna go back there's again."

Jack sighed. "I know you's right, Crutch, but-"

"Of course I is right-it's me you's talking to here!" Jack chuckled under his breath. "Now, you lie down an' git some sleep, Jack. We's all gonna be here in the morning." As Juliet watched from the ladder, Jack slowly nodded, and laid back down, Crutchie wrapping an arm around his shoulders. The contact with his friend seemed to soothe Jack even more, and he quickly relaxed in Crutchie's grip and fell asleep, Crutchie following soon after.

Once she knew both of the boys were fully out, Juliet quietly clambered up the rest of the ladder as fast as she could. A cool breeze surrounded the roof, and relaxed her a bit more. However, she knew she couldn't calm down until she had sat up on the roof a while. This wasn't her first time-she had been up every night for the last week or so with nightmares. At first, she was terrified to go up on the roof-that was Jack and Crutchie's private spot, their "personal oasis"-type of thing. However, trying to keep herself from going up there almost ended in her "taking a piss" right then and there, and so she had climbed up. She was more comfortable about it now, but she always made sure that both Jack and Crutchie were completely and totally asleep before she went up. As she neared the boys, she slipped down to the ground, eventually sitting with her legs pressed against Crutchie's side. One thing that she had learned about herself in the recent weeks was that she was a very tactile person. She would give hugs or pat people on the back or something like that in order to show them that she loved them. In exchange, the touches they gave her grounded her, and showed her that her message to them had been not only received, but returned. She knew from experience that the only way she would be able to get any sleep later on was to sit so close to Crutchie that she could feel his body heat, while not waking him up at the same time. She sat up there for…probably about two hours, before she felt like she could go back down the ladder and get some sleep in her own room, so she got up and began to clamber back down the ladder. As she left, she didn't notice Crutchie turning his head, or opening his eyes to watch her.

A few nights later, Juliet was at it again. It was now about two weeks since Crutchie had told her about his experiences, and even going up to make sure he was still there wasn't fully helping anymore. She was maybe getting about 4 hours of sleep now on a good day, and less on a bad. Some of the boys, like Specs, Romeo, Race, and Finch, had noticed her almost falling asleep on her corner, but when they asked her about it, she said she was fine-when she definitely wasn't.

As usual, the nightmare woke her up, screaming Crutchie's name, her heart pounding in her chest. She sighed, getting up and heading to the ladder as if on autopilot. When she got up there, she saw Crutchie, but not Jack. For a moment, she looked around, thinking Jack was going to jump out of somewhere and yell at her for intruding on his and Crutchie's personal space, but she ended up just shaking her head. Jack had been gone for a while that evening, and she figured he was still at Katherine's, since he had said that he was headed over there and told them not to wait up. As Juliet sat down by Crutchie, the breeze blew around her again, and she shivered, drawing closer to the older boy. She rested her head on her arms, trying to relax, but ended up just seeing the images of her nightmares, which led to her sighing again, and rubbing her eyes furiously, trying to keep some tears from falling.

"Nightmares, huh?" Juliet jumped, trying to figure out where the voice came from. For a moment, the clouds in the sky parted, allowing the moon to shine through, and illuminate a tall figure leaning up against a railing on the roof, so far in shadow that she wouldn't have seen him the first time she looked around.

Jack.

Crap.

She hurriedly looked away, trying to compose herself in front of her older brother. "Well, um, I…I, uh…" she stammered, "I…I should probably be leaving now, so I…uh…" She started to rise to her feet, to run to the ladder and shimmy down it as fast as she could before Jack could get mad at her for encroaching on his territory. As she tried to leave, however, a warm hand descended onto her shoulder, keeping her from moving. Somehow Jack had managed to sneak up behind her while she was jumping to her feet.

"Easy, Juliet. Ya don' have ta leave, ya know." She could hear the amusement and affection in Jack's voice, which kind of startled her. Shouldn't he be mad?

"Yes I do." Juliet finally managed to choke out. "This is you and Crutchie's private place, an' I ain't got no right ta be up here. I just thought…naw, it doesn' matter…I's just gonna go back ta my room. Sorry again." She tried to leave, but the gentle hand on her shoulder-while still remaining gentle-became firm, holding her in place. She sighed nervously. Jack probably wanted to yell at her right now, since the only other person who was up there was Crutchie, and once he heard what she was doing, he would probably yell at her as well. She again tried briefly to get away, but Jack just held her there, seemingly with no effort on his part.

"Juliet-calm down. I ain't mad at ya. I just wanna talk ta ya." The word were quiet and soft, soothing her fears a bit, but also firm enough and laced enough with a quiet authority to make sure Juliet knew that it wasn't a request. She tried to calm down a bit (failing more than exceeding), and allowed the older boy to maneuver them both over to a nearby wall and down to sit on the ground. Once they were there, Jack placed his arm around her shoulders, while gently moving her head to rest on his shoulder.

"You's bin havin' nightmares, haven' ya? 'Bout Crutchie and the Refuge?" Jack could feel the younger girl start underneath him.

"How did ya know dat?" she queried nervously.

Jack grinned down at her. "Older brothers know all, don'cha know?" Juliet rolled her eyes at him, and he chuckled. Then, he sobered up a bit. "Anyways, Crutchie told me dat he told you…an' dat he saw ya up here a few nights ago, an' every night since. Plus, Specs, Romeo, Race, _and_ Finch have all come up ta me at some point, tellin' me 'bout how you's almost fallin' asleep on da job." Juliet sighed, looking away from her brother. Everything Jack had just said was true, including…

"Wait a minute-when did Crutchie see me up here?"

"A few days ago. He though he was hearin' something a couple nights 'fore dat, so he stayed awake longer ta see what it was." Now Juliet was _definitely_ looking away from her brother. If only she had stayed quieter somehow, Crutchie wouldn't have heard her, and no one would know that she was having nightmares. She inwardly cursed at how stupid she was to think that her nightly voyages would go undetected by everyone.

"How long?" Jack murmured. When she didn't respond, he elaborated: "How long have you's been havin' nightmares?" Juliet didn't respond for a while, but she finally breathed out, "Two weeks or so…eva since Crutchie told me 'bout it." Jack sighed, tightening his arm around his sister. "And how long have ya been sleepin' since den?" he queried. Again, it took a while, but the younger girl finally responded, "Maybe 4 hours on a good day…less den dat on a bad." Jack sighed again. He knew why Crutchie had told the girl about what had happened to him…he just wished the younger boy hadn't told her. As they sat there silently for a while, Jack began to hear almost inaudible sniffling sounds coming from below him. He looked down to see Juliet trying to calm herself down, a few tears slipping out of her eyes. He also saw Crutchie slowly turn his head to face them, and look at Juliet. Jack then caught Crutchie's eye and shook his head-if she was this embarrassed and nervous about Jack finding out, he didn't want her to freak out even more once she knew Crutchie had been awake the whole time.

"Ya know he ain't goin' anywhere, right? Crutchie's safe now." Jack murmured. Juliet nodded. "I know, an' I used ta be able ta jus' come up an' sit a couple hours an' it was fine, but…" She trailed off, still looking away from him.

"But it ain't enough anymore, right?" Jack asked, getting a timid nod in response. He sighed for the third time, _really_ wishing Crutchie hadn't told Juliet. The strike guys had had nightmares for a long time (which was to be expected), but they had all slowly gotten over it. There were still some bad dreams, but the afflicted boy would usually inadvertently wake up someone near him, who would help him calm down. Juliet didn't have anybody.

"All right, come'ere, kid." Jack muttered, pulling his sister up with him. It didn't take long for them to get over to where Crutchie was, and Jack sat the two down again, with Juliet in between himself and Crutchie.

"Wha…what are you's doin'?" Juliet asked cautiously. Jack smiled at her, resting his hand on the back of her neck and squeezing gently. "You's sleepin' here tonight, kid-dat's what I's doing." Juliet tried to backpedal away, but Jack stopped her again. "Look," he said, "I've learned from experience…when I or anyone else has nightmares 'bout Crutchie bein' stuck in da Refuge, lettin' 'em sleep up here next ta him kinda helps somehow." He gently pushed her down until she was lying on the ground next to them. Crutchie slowly rolled over in his "sleep", and laced both arms around Juliet, pulling her into a hug and curling around her. (Jack made a mental note to thank the boy later for being aware of exactly what his sister needed at the moment…and to sketch the picture later, so that the other boys could see just how cute he was snuggling up against someone.) Juliet looked between the two of them confusedly, and Jack grinned over at her. "He does dat a lot-even ta me. Now, jus' close your eyes, an' go ta sleep. We's gonna be here all night, an' won' let your nightmares git'cha." Juliet smirked at him, before slowly closing her eyes. She had figured that she wouldn't be able to sleep-what with BEING ON THE ROOF and all, but she eventually felt herself drifting off to sleep. As she finally fell asleep, Jack heard a small "Is she asleep?" Jack smiled at the younger boy, still chuckling as he looked at the two of them snuggling, and nodded. "Yeah, Crutch, she's out. Now git some sleep yourself, ya hear?" Crutchie rolled his eyes, and nodded. "Ya don' have ta be so bossy 'bout it." he good-naturedly complained, before falling asleep himself. Jack stayed awake a while longer, to watch over his younger siblings, but he too eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, Juliet woke up slowly, blinking her eyes a few times to adjust to the light that was streaming in from the windows in her dormitory. Wait a minute…this wasn't her dormitory…this was…Suddenly, she remembered where she was, and what had happened last night… " _Oh, crap,_ " she thought, " _I spent last night sleeping ON THE ROOF with Jack and Crutchie…and they both know about the nightmares…crap crap crap crap…._ " She suddenly cut off mentally kicking herself as the solid mass around her started moving. Her heart stopped.

Of course Crutchie had to find her up here. Of course. Were other newsies just going to pop out of corners and laugh at her?

She suddenly felt someone lightly smooth their hand over her hair-and the same person's eyes on her-and guiltily looked up into Crutchie's smiling face. "Good morning, Juliet-nice ta see ya up here. Jack's great an' all, but it is nice havin' company, ya know?" As his sister stared at him in shock, Crutchie just kept on rambling, soon bringing a smile to Juliet's face. Finally, once he was ready, the two clambered down the ladder, Juliet going first so she could help Crutchie down, and then headed off to breakfast. As they walked, Jack (who had just walked by) grabbed Crutchie's arm to stop him, waving Juliet on as she stopped and looked back at them.

"Nice job last night…jus' keep an eye on her, will ya?" Jack muttered. Crutchie grinned back at him. "Sure I will-but I don' think she's gonna need ta come back for a while."

And it was true-somehow spending the night on the roof with the two boys had helped defeat the majority of Juliet's nightmares. She still had them the next week or so, but they became less frequent and less intense with each night, until she could get a decent night's rest without having to go up to the roof. And if there was a picture going around to all the newsies of she and Crutchie snuggling…Jack had nothing to do with it. Allegedly.

*J*U*L*I*E*T*

" _The trial's over. It's actually over._ " Race reminded himself. He had just woken up from a nightmare, in which they didn't rescue Juliet in time, and she either died from her injuries, or the Comstocks won the suit and she died while living with them. He sighed, rolling over and over until he decided to walk around for a bit. He didn't figure he would get anymore sleep anyways. Unconsciously, his footsteps traveled closer and closer to the girls' dormitory, now solely inhabited by Juliet. Usually, none of them were allowed in, allowing her some privacy, but Jack seemed to have made an exception in regards to recent events. As he walked down the hallway towards the dormitory door, he stopped short. There was Romeo, sitting a ways down the hallway in front of him, resting his chin on his arms.

"Romeo? Are you all right?" Race whispered. The younger boy looked up, startled by his approach, but quickly nodded. "Yeah, I's all right…I just…nightmares, ya know…" he murmured. Race nodded. "Me too. I's plannin' ta jus' go in for a moment, reassure myself she's all right….wanta come with?" Romeo nodded, clearly nervous about going in by himself, and joined Race as the older newsie opened the door. They quietly snuck in, walking through the room until they arrived at Juliet's bed. The younger newsie was rolling around on her bed, clearly going through the same thing Race and Romeo had-a nightmare.

"No…Aaron…Evan, stop…don' hurt 'em…leave….leave 'em alone….leave Race an' Romeo alone…" At Juliet's words, the two boys looked at each other in shock. Juliet was having a nightmare about Aaron and Evan going after _them_? A few seconds later, when her writhing dramatically increased, Romeo knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Juliet-wake up! It's just a nightmare-you're all right!" His words seemed to have some effect, as she quickly shot up to a sitting position, wide-eyed and hyperventilating. Romeo sat down on the side of her bed, his hand still on her shoulder, and Race stood to his right, closer to Juliet's head. "Easy, Juliet…you're all right. You're safe now." Romeo soothed quietly. Juliet slowly started to control her breathing, clenching her eyes open and shut a few times to help herself focus. Once she was calmed down relatively well, she looked up at the two newsies. "Oh…hey, guys." she muttered shyly. She looked at the ground, ashamed to be caught by the two boys who she had just been dreaming about. Romeo moved his hand to her knee, while Race placed his on her shoulder. "Juliet, look at me." Race said, looking down at his sister. She shook her head, refusing to look up at them. The boys looked at each other, before Race turned to her again. "Juliet. Look at me, _now_. I ain't gonna hurt ya." His authority as the newsie lieutenant shone throw in his voice, and Juliet knew she had no choice but to obey, slowly raising her head to look at him. Race smiled down at her. "Dere we go. How ya doin', little sister?" Juliet looked around the room, tears starting to fall from her eyes. "I…I dunno." she finally murmured. "I, uh…I's been havin' nightmares about da Refuge eva since…well…ya know. I keep dreamin' 'bout what happened, an' at first it was jus' 'bout jus' what happened, but…after a while, it started addin' you guys inta da dreams as well."

"So you's been dreamin' 'bout all da stuff in da Refuge happenin' ta us as well?" Romeo murmured gently, squeezing Juliet's knee. She nodded, more tears starting to fall. Race knelt down, placing his free hand on her cheek. "Juliet-look at me." Finally, she looked up at the two boys, only to look rapidly down again, tears now freely flowing from her eyes. "Juliet-listen ta me. You's all right, an' da Clancy brothers, Warden Snyder, an' your parents ain't gonna hurt ya anymore, ya hear?" The younger girl shook her head, but Race turned it to face him and Romeo. "Romeo and I is all right, an' all da other boys are too. I know da nightmares are tough, but ya gotta remember dat we is all right."

"An' even if they tried ta come after ya, we would stop 'em right away. Dey ain't getting' near ya again, I can promise ya." Romeo grinned. "Your brothers' ain' gonna let anyone touch ya." Juliet smiled at the two of them, slowly calming down. "What happened in da dream?" Romeo asked. She didn't respond initially, but finally replied, "Well…I was back in da Refuge, an' it was when dey was beatin' me up…and den suddenly you two was dere, and de Clancy brothers were going after you. I tried ta git dem ta stop, but dey didn' listen ta me, an' started beatin' you up. Dat's when you two got here, I think." She sighed, and then stopped. "Wait a minute…why were you in here in da first place? You guys was sleepin' da last time I saw." Race and Romeo looked at each other, suddenly self-concious. "Well, we, uh….we had de same kinda problems dat you jus' had." Juliet looked confused for a moment, but then understood what Romeo was saying. "Ya mean…you guys had nightmares too? I'm guessin' 'bout da same things I was." The two boys nodded at each other. "Yeah…yeah, we was. We can' stop thinkin' 'bout what happened to ya, an' we can' stop blamin' ourselves for what happened." Juliet sighed softly, looking up at her brothers. "Ya gotta stop doin' dat, ya know? What happened ain' your fault-it's my parents an' da Clancy brothers an' Warden Snyder's fault, not yours. Ya gotta stop blamin' yourself…I don'." Race and Romeo looked at each other nervously. "We know…" Race said, "we're jus' havin' a hard time doin' it." Juliet nodded slowly, her anxiety and fear fading away as she started to look after her older brothers. "All right…here's what we's gonna do. You two is gonna stay here tonight, so dat when-no, not when, _if_ -ya have a nightmare, you's gonna be able ta see me an' know dat nothin' bad is happenin'…an' I can do da same for you two." Both boys immediately started protesting, but she shook her head. "No-listen here. When I was havin' nightmare about Crutchie in da Refuge, Jack let me spend da night up dere with him an' Crutchie, an' it helped dem ta go away almost immediately. I figure it'll work for the two of ya as well." Race and Romeo still tried to protest for a little while longer, but they finally agreed. During that night, each of them had at least one nightmare, but each time the other two newsies were there to help the other get through the nightmare. The next day, they didn't make any mention of it, but they kept smiling and winking at each other during the day. It took a while, but after that day, their nightmares slowly started going away, until it was very rare to have one. None of them noticed Jack, Crutchie, and Davey watching them and smiling at each other. They had heard the conversation between the three newsies by happening to be outside the door when it occurred. They had agreed to keep an eye on the three, to make sure their nightmares had truly gone away, and they were extremely happy to see that the nightmares had ended.

No matter what terrors the night would bring-the newsie family stuck together. Forever.

 _ **A/N 2: So, I hope you all liked this story…I'm trying to come up with another Newsies fanfic idea, so keep an eye out for that once MALA has more chapters that aren't each 400 words long.**_ __ _ **This fanfic is also a thank you to all of my readers and reviewers of TNG…you guys gave me confidence to keep writing, and showed me how supportive and caring the fandom is, and how much joy and other feels we can cause each other…haha…**_ __ _ **Just read the reviews of TNG for examples. ;)**_

 _ **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this story, and I shall hopefully be updating and posting soon! Oh, and FansieFace, if you end up reading this-please give Hulu a large hug for me, and tell them I said hi!**_ __

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


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